A blog about cognitive and behavioural economics. Building mathematical models of how psychology influences economic systems.

Introducing System 3: How we use our imagination to make choices

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 13:26:47 GMT

In recent years we’ve become used to thinking about decisions as “system 1” or “system 2”. System 1 choices are automatic decisions, made without thinking, based on an immediate emotional or sensory reaction. System 2 is used to stop and rationally calculate the consequences of our choices, and determine the best cost-benefit tradeoff. But these two processes don’t capture every decision. Indeed they might only encompass a minority of our daily choices. Recent work in neuroscience and...